Aside from Lost Ones, I don't think anyone is against an aging Collison sitting on the bench telling McGary about how good he was when Better than Ezra was big, but... wouldn't he have seen a $2 million dollar deal for a 35-36 year old as pretty generous too? Again, why so much?

@Royce Young@mattchant This team healthy has been very good, but the franchise also has made some glaring errors. We have KD/Westbrook/Serge in their primes and we had the Perk Finals fiasco, Fisher getting 38 minutes, the Waiters signing looks really bad (and it did the day of the deal b/c of his resume and fit). I believe, and have always believed, that the Harden trade (at least at that time) was a massive mistake. We give the Thunder a lot of credit, but they have made some huge errors that were obvious to any educated fan. This Collison deal seems to be another obvious error that really shouldn't happe under any circumstances.

@Royce Young@Daniel Hawaii Okay, fair enough. Then I retract those statements. But understand that it seems to come across that way. There is a lot of love for you on this site, Royce. I know I appreciate what you do.

In terms of this deal, I don't think there's a way to justify it. Presti talks about flexibility, but he just tied up money for a player that already is not getting minutes. This deal could prevent other deals from happening in the future. If Nick is not willing to play for near the minimum at 35 and 36 then where is his loyalty? Because he has always been compensated fairly.

@Royce Young@Daniel Hawaii You're using the term to discount other people instead of addressing their valid criticisms. Its a logical fallacy that is rather patronizing. Again, it would be easy to dismiss you similarly. I gave an example above. But I'd rather just discuss the issues.

Man. Royce is spinning this. The Thunder aren't the Nets. We all know that deals can come down to one or two million dollards over/under the tax. Signing Nick to a minimum deal is loyalty. Signing Nick to a $8 million deal is stupidity. But, don't worry, Royce already dismissed this criticism as just "cliche internet Thunder fan." Well, sorry we're responding to "cliche apologist Thunder beat writer." C'mon, Royce.

Here's the simple problem with Brooks that you can't get around: He makes unforgiveably bad Xs and Os decisions even when everyone is telling him they're bad decisions. The best example is that he still rolls Perk out on the floor when the opponent goes small and there is still no one for Perk to guard. This potentially cost the Thunder a chance at a championship. How can you still be making such bad decisions? A recent writer pointed out how the Thunder have no secondary action after plays fail initially which results in hero ball iso shots late in the shot clock.

I could go on with other examples, but we also can't get around the fact that Brooks was handed the best core of young players in the NBA either. Of course, the team has had success. He had two top ten players, Ibaka, Harden, Reggie, etc. I think it would be fair to say Brooks is an average coach, but I don't think you can call him good.

@Old Man Game@Grolgar My dream is to get enough people involved to buy batches of tickets at Thunder-Mavs games and annoy the crap out of Mavs fans... which will be awesome because my Mavs fan wife will probably finally kill me. Lol.

Heeeeeeyyyyyyy, folks. I'm tired of watching big Thunder games on my couch. Started this DFW Thunder group to get some watch parties going for big games and maybe get-togethers before Thunder-Mavs games at the AAC. Here's the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OKCThunderClubOfDFW And Twitter: @DFWThunderClub. Spread the word por favor.

I'm too lazy to look, but Slater mentioned that Miami has no SG depth and a Lamb for Norris Cole trade might make sense. Cole seems like a reasonable upgrade over Ish if Jackson were traded and we didn't get a PG back... No?

So, say we don't trade Reggie by the deadline, he continues to play poorly, teams shy away, and he only gets an offer sheet of $7 million per. Shouldn't the Thunder buy low there, hope he improves, and then either keep him or deal him?

@f5alcon@propsizzle I've been here since pretty much the beginning, but I don't post as regularly as others. I briefly posted as "Durantula," but I've posted as "Grolgar" for most of the time. I miss Kev's game breakdowns...

@shiki@Grolgar We have played a super easy schedule so far. The math is above. Maybe this is the year we jump to a 65 win pace, but I wouldn't bank on that. 56 wins still could be anywhere between 6 and 8.

@Divine Mortal@OohWeeItsVelvetHoop Brooks doesn't get credit for player improvement and buy-in. Those two have been the downfall of many teams. Of course, he's not a great X and Os guy, but I think people undervalue what he does well.

I posted this over on RealGM because I kept seeing threads where people are talking about whether the Thunder can get home court advantage in the playoffs and I don't think they had done the math...

Currently, the Thunder are 11-13. That means they have 58 games remaining. Based on the history of the Thunder, they are likely to win at a pace of about 57 to 60 games. They've never won at a higher pace than 60 games in a season. So, if the Thunder win at a full season 55 win pace (67%) they will finish with 50 wins. If they win at a 60 game pace (73%) they will finish with 53 wins. If they win at a 65 game pace (79%) then they will finish with 57 wins. So, the Thunder are most likely to end up with 52-54 wins.

Currently, Dallas is the 7th seed and they are on pace to win 56 games. Of course, one of the teams ahead of the Thunder could fall off some, but none of those teams are flukes. They've shown similar success over the long term. Maybe an injury could drop a team. Otherwise, the Thunder will have to win out at a higher rate then they've ever won AND have quality teams in front of them drop off just to get to the 7 seed, much less to gain home court advantage. So, the Thunder are probably getting the 7 or 8 seed.

Of course, that will be a nightmare for the 1 or 2 seed because OKC could be the best team in the league by that point.